SEO isn't rocket science but that's only if you know your way round a post Panda and Penguin universe where Google wants you to focus on high quality SEO more than anything else and is apt to penalize websites for the minutest quality transgression.
SEO has become much more complex and dynamic, but it doesn't involve doing something that you haven't done before. It's still about solid keyword research, internal linking, building links and using analytics to track your results and more. It's still about the basics, so if you get your fundamentals wrong, your SEO strategy will go nowhere.
Let's take a look at why your SEO might not be working out for you.
Have you optimized your site for conversions?
At times, it's not the SEO that is the problem, but the fact that your site isn't optimized for conversions. That might be the reason why all that massive amounts of traffic generated by SEO doesn't convert; and you think the problem is with your SEO. So, before you get started on your SEO, take a look at CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). Take customer feedback to check whichonsite elements work for them and which don't. Modify the ones that don't. Also, use A/B Testing to evaluate different versions of your site, to zero in on the one that will convert best. You could also do 'heat mapping' to understand a user'son-site behavior.
This will help you get your website, traffic ready. If you get your CRO right, you will find your SEO delivering more returns.
You have got your keywords wrong
Oops! This is a huge mistake and it's quite surprising really, that even experienced SEOs and webmasters can get their target keywords wrong. Some of them focus too much on generic keywords and there are others who focus on broad keywords that have tremendous competition. So, it's important to focus on doing some solid keyword research and identifying keywords that are specific vis-à-vis your products and services and if possible, the ones that are location specific. So instead of trying to rank for a generic keyword like SEO services, you could get into the specifics, and rank for SEO services for hotels or SEO services for Detroit car dealers and so on and so forth. It's easier to rank for specific keywords rather than competitive keywords.
If you are not optimizing for the right keywords, say goodbye to any chance of attracting website traffic.
Still caught in the quantity quick sand
The quantity of links is now an anachronism in modern SEO. What you need to build, are high quality links from authority sites. If you are still emphasizing on the quantity of links rather than their quality, you are going on a road that goes down to SEO hell. In this case, forget about high rankings on SERPs, your site is actually crying out for a Google penalty. The more low quality links pointing to your site, the more it will slump on SERPs. So focus on getting links from popular blogs; these are the links that search engines trust. It really doesn't matter whether you are able to generate just one good link per week. Its value will be way more than the thousands of links you might be able to generate in a week through high volume link generation tactics like directory submissions etc.
The key to high quality link building is getting links that are relevant to the website and the niche it belongs to.
Not Giving Due Respect to Content
Quality content is the key to your SEO efforts. Poorly written content doesn't make for good SEO. Search engines want you to come up with content that's informative and engaging. They want you to come up with content that your readers will love going through and which is solutions driven. It should be something that adds value and must not be written for the heck of it. If your content is not unique and doesn't engage the readers, they will soon lose trust in your website/brand. This is something that will not just affect the rankings of your site, but its profitability as well!
SEO has become more content driven than ever before. It is the foundation of every successful SEO strategy. You can't afford to get your content wrong.
Unreasonable SEO expectations
Sometimes, site owners have high expectations from their SEO strategy in terms of the deliverables. Some might want x amount of traffic and others might want x amount of leads from a particular location. But more often than not, they want results quickly and what's more they want these results cheap. Sometimes these expectations are reasonable, while at other times they are unreasonable. It's the latter that is a problem and in this case people think their SEO is not working out. It's not that their SEO is not working out; it's just that their expectations from their SEO strategy aren't in sync with the time, effort and money put into that strategy.
These are just some of the many reasons why your SEO strategy is failing to deliver the results you are looking for. If you have doubts about the efficacy of your strategy, discuss the same with the people in charge of SEO for your site. Convey your doubts and disappointment with the SEO team and set in motion the necessary corrective steps to improve the efficiency of your site's SEO.
About Guest Blogger
Jeff Davis is living in California and currently associated with Quick Laptop Cash – A place to
sell new laptops online. He has been into this field since last 6 years and responsible for troubleshoot issues; interact to discuss projects, technology solutions. When he is not working, he enjoys hanging out with his beautiful wife.
